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Energy Return on Investment

Book  in  Lecture Notes in Energy · January 2017

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-47821-0

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Charles A S Hall
College of Environmental Science and Forestry , The State University of New York
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C.A.S.Hall
Energy Return on Investment
A Unifying Principle for Biology, Economics, and Sustainability

Series: Lecture Notes in Energy, Vol. 36

▶ Provides a solid foundation for investors to understand what is

ultimately behind markets
▶ Presents an accessible but powerful overview of energy as a
ubiquitous causative agent in all phenomena across several
disciplines
▶ Offers a synthetic and transdisciplinary perspective for
understanding the common drivers of apparently disparate
1st ed. 2017, XII, 174 p. 67 illus., 52 illus. in
color.
phenomena in nature and society
▶ Helps you to evaluate claims of “greenness” and sustainability from
consumer products to science
Printed book
This authoritative but highly accessible book presents the reader with a powerful
Hardcover framework for understanding the critical role of the energy return on investment (EROI)
▶ 49,99 € | £37.99 | $54.99 in the survival and well-being of individuals, ecosystems, businesses, economies and
▶ *53,49 € (D) | 54,99 € (A) | CHF 55.00 nations. Growth and development are fundamental and ubiquitous processes at all
scales, from individuals to food crops to national economies. While we are all familiar with
the concepts of economic growth and living standards as measured by gross domestic
eBook
product (GDP), we often take for granted the energy use that underpins GDP and our
Available from your library or expectations for year-on-year growth. In this book, you will learn how these measures
▶ springer.com/shop of “progress” are completely dependent on the balance that can be achieved between
energy costs (inputs) and gains. Nothing is made or moved without an energy surplus,
and it is the EROI of available energy sources more than any other single factor that
MyCopy
determines the shape of civilization.
Printed eBook for just
 Nearly all politics and economics assume that policy and market forces are the levers
▶ € | $ 24.99
▶ springer.com/mycopy upon which future outcomes will hinge. However, this book presents many examples of
historical and current events that can be explained much more clearly from an energetic
perspective. In addition, a future scenario is developed that gives a central place to EROI
in assessing the potential of governmental and private initiatives to substitute so-called
renewable energy sources for diminishing stocks of fossil fuels. When cheap fossil fuels
are no longer available in the abundance needed to mask economic problems and power
business as usual, it will be EROI more than the plethora of “green” technologies that
creates the boundary conditions for a sustainable future.

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